HCM City spares no efforts to further promote economic growth
VOV.VN - The first half of the year witnessed Vietnam's economic growth recover, especially that of Ho Chi Minh City, despite being affected by difficulties, risks of instability in the global economy, challenges in terms of capital, issues in consumption markets, and policies that impacted the running of firms.
The southern city’s economic growth recorded in the second quarter stood at 6.31%, the lowest compared to centrally-run cities. To achieve this, it devised many solutions and showed great determination to escape the risk of slowing growth.
During the six-month period, Ho Chi Minh City’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) reached more than VND567,000 billion, an increase of 6.46% over the same period from last year, with service trade still being the sector that contributed the most at 4.34 percentage points, whilst enjoying the highest growth rate at 7.26%.
According to Phan Van Mai, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, although the southern city's growth rate over the first half of the year was quite high, the remaining quarters of the year must see the growth rate increase even higher, even rising up by 8% in the final quarter, in order to drive the growth rate of the whole year up between 7.5% and 8% as expected.
As part of efforts to achieve this, sectors and localities must focus on removing difficulties and obstacles to further spur forward economic growth ahead in the remaining months of the year.
Dr. Tran Du Lich said that the southern metropolis’ second quarter growth remained slow compared to the national average. However, in the second quarter, the city strived to promote the development of the domestic market and tourism, while total revenue of goods and services increased higher than the national average.
In the third quarter, the city will focus on removing difficulties for total social investment, carrying out social housing projects and key programmes, as well as devising solutions for the economy to absorb capital, thereby promoting economic growth.
Numerous solutions for growth needed
Ho Chi Minh City's growth rate is slowing down for many reasons. In particular, the production and business operations of enterprises reduced its profit margin and it is forecast that the future will see the southern city continue to be affected by difficulties occurring globally, with reduced revenue from import and export and slow disbursement.
Furthermore, the real estate market has recovered, but not in a strong enough way to contribute to the growth of the service industry, while consumer demand is currently low at only half compared to pre-pandemic years.
Nguyen Khac Hoang, head of the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Department, stated that the city clearly sees its own strengths and limitations in growth as it devises specific solutions.
Although growth is showing signs of slowing down, there are still positive points, with credit continuing to grow. The city was able to control inflation better than the whole nation at 3.26% during the six-month period, budget revenue soared by 18%, and 33,824 more businesses joined the market.
It can be viewed as essential to determine that domestic consumption remains the main driving force, Hoang emphasized, adding that the city continued to implement price stabilization schemes, stimulate consumption, boost tourism development, ensure budget spending according to estimates, promote public investment, and expand new markets in a bid to bolster exports.
The attraction of FDI projects in Ho Chi Minh City has also decreased compared to the same period from last year and has been slow in implementation, but exports of enterprises in export processing and industrial zones over the past six months still hit US$4.5 billion, up by 17% on-year.
In the general socio-economic development situation of Ho Chi Minh City, the City Business Association stressed that businesses have now recovered production but still face plenty of difficulties in terms of input materials, increased shipping costs, 34% of inventory, and a general lack of markets, all of which results in weak absorption capacity.
The city should therefore research and adjust mechanisms and methods as a means of supporting firms participating in international trade promotion activities and other engagement activities as a means of seeking and expanding markets.
In a nutshell, the "health" of enterprises is one of the factors that significantly contributes to Ho Chi Minh City's growth in the remaining months of the year, Hoang stressed.
